Alfa Romeo suffered a blow in the battle with Williams for P8 after an eventful Hungarian Grand Prix in which Williams drivers Nicholas Latifi and George Russell not only scored their first points of the season, but also a 10-point spot to be clearly ahead of Alfa in the constructors’ championship.
Seventh and eighth place for Latifi and Russell meant that Williams is going into the summer break seven points ahead of the Swiss team, which thanks to Kimi Raikkonen’s 10 penalty.
Raikkonen received a 10-second penalty for unsafe triggering after a pit stop, while Giovinazzi was hit by a 10-second stop and speeding in the pit lane.
Despite the setback at the Hungaroring, Alfa Romeo believes that it will be able to surpass Williams in the second half of the season.
Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo Racing C41
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
“It won’t be easy, but I think it is possible,” said Xevi Pujolar, Head of Trackside Engineering at Alfa Romeo.
“We’re going to try. I think at the end of the day it would have been a lot worse from the start so I’m still happy about it.
“We wanted both cars in Q2, we wanted both cars ahead of the Williams, so we achieved that.
“Everything is gone on the first lap, but we still had a chance there. Then they are both in front and our two cars have a penalty. That was even more demanding.
“But now the difference is in the points, I think it’s not huge and we still have a lot of races ahead of us so I think we can do it.”
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Pujolar says it will be the key to getting one point or another here and there when Raikkonen and Giovinazzi come into Q2 on Saturday, as they did in Hungary.
Apart from exceptional circumstances like last Sunday when several competitors started, he is confident that it will be more difficult for Williams to score more points in the second half of the season than for Alfa Romeo.
“I think we couldn’t do that all at once under normal racing conditions, but if we still have several races ahead of us then it can be done,” he said.
“We still have a lot of races ahead of us and I think if we can place both cars in Q2 after the shutdown, we can probably do it.
“I think we can score points on a few occasions. I would say it would be more difficult for [Williams to score points]. “
When asked if there are certain circuits that might favor Alfa Romeo in its battle against Williams, Pujolar believes there aren’t any specific circuits that fit his team’s car, but that on most of the circuits it has a solid chance of getting in to be in the top 10.
“I think there are no specific routes. I think we can perform well on most tracks if we have both drivers. ” [in Q2].
“I think we can keep that up and do it on tracks where you drive maximum downforce, on tracks where efficiency is a bit higher.
“I don’t see any special track layout to do that from Spa until the end of the season.”
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